7 Good Reasons to Quit Drinking Bottled Water

Listen, laugh & learn with the Green Divas (and Green Dude Scott) anytime - Podcast here!

We had an extra Green Diva Meg in the house today! Our special guest Green Diva Meghan Van Dyk, the editor of the Daily Record’s Grassroots section was in the studio to help kick off our new weekly segment called, Gettin Local with the Green Divas: Wherever You Are! This segment is sponsored by the Daily Record’s Grassroots section and will focus on highlighting interesting stories and events within our community that help to illustrate and celebrate our community’s sustainability progress and share ideas with other communities around the country . . . or the world for that matter!

Why Should We Care

Please join us in being part of the solution! Visit our Why Should We Care Campaign page and please donate (and get some awesome goodies when you do)!

Sleeping Naked is Green segment: No More Water Bottles

7 Good Reasons to Quit Drinking Bottled Water

• The U.S. is the largest consumer market for bottled water in the world, followed by Mexico, China, and Brazil.
• In 2008, U.S. bottled water sales topped 8.6 billion gallons, which represented 28.9% of the U.S. liquid beverage market.
• The average American drinks 21 gallons of bottled water per year.
• According to MSNBC, the use of water bottles increased dramatically from 3.3 billion sold in 1997 to 15 billion in 2002.
• National Geographic estimates that 17 million gallons of crude oil is used on an annual basis to produce plastic bottles.
• If you fill a water bottle ¼ of the way with oil, this is about how much oil is used to manufacture that one bottle!
• This amount of oil is enough to fuel approximately a million cars for one year.It is estimated by the Container Recycling Institute and ReusableBags.com that 22 billion water bottles end up in landfills every year.
• According to Environmental Working Group’s scientific study on bottled water vs. tap water, bottled water contains distinfection byproducts, fertilizer residue and pain medication . . . ahhhhh! Seriously – read this article.
• The bottling companies have created a FALSE sense of NEED in the U.S. for bottled water by convincing us that our tap water is tainted and bottled water is the solution . . . NOT if you watch this awesome video by the Story of Stuff about the bottled water industry.

Good Reasons to Recycle Those Plastic Bottles

• Although many plastic bottles are being recycled for good re-use as a variety of materials, National Geographic Kids states that only 1 in 6 plastic bottles makes it to the recycling bin!
• Recycling plastic bottles saves energy.
• According to recycling only one plastic bottle saves the same amount of energy as powering a 60-watt light bulb for six hours.

Good Ideas!

• Cool stuff made from RPET – RPET stands for recycled PET (Poly Ethylene Terephthalate), which is a member of the polyester family.
• GreenSmart.Biz – my awesome computer bag.
• Get a stainless steel or glass re-usable water bottle – and use it!
• Last month, the Grand Canyon National Park Service approved a plan that eliminates the sale of bottled water! There are water stations in the park to refill water bottles, which a visitor can bring in to the park.

References for this segment include: Livestrong.com Wikipedia

Listen this Sleeping Naked is Green 5-minute segment.

FEATURED GUEST(s) – Meghan van Dyke from The Daily Record’s Grassroots station

Grassroots Meghan introduced Cara Townsend, a reporter for the Daily Record’s Grassroots Section, who reported on some of the sustainability programs in schools in the Morris County area.

As always, please visit our website for LOTS of relevant links & resources from the show - Green Divas website.

Hope you’ll listen to this broadcast!

Listen to the show here!

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

PROGRAMMING NOTE: Mark your calendars because Jessica Alba and business partner Christopher Gavigan will be on the Green Divas Radio Show LIVE on March 31! They will be talking about their green baby and home company the Honest Company. Please post questions for them on the Green Divas Radio Show Facebook page and we’ll be sure to ask them for you!